An Unending Search
by Burning Rayne
Summary: Summary: This story is the sequel to "A Night With The Girls" and starts out where we left off. What happens in the morning after their passionate night at Malfoy Manor? Rated M because of the continuance of "A Night With The Girls".


This story is the sequel to "A Night With The Girls". Many of you wanted more to the story, and I thank you for all of the wonderful reviews! This is actually the second installment of what I'm hoping will either be a trilogy, or a quadrilogy. It all depends though. I still have to start on my idea for the third part, but I kind of know where it's going, I just need to find the time. But, with me starting school soon, I'm hoping to have this story finished before the 6th of April. But, I will take my time, because a story rushed is a story not worth reading. That is my personal opinion, and also what I keep in mind when I read stories, as well as when I write them.

Summary: This story starts out where we left off in "A Night With The Girls". What happens in the morning after their passionate night at Malfoy Manor?

Disclaimer: I wish I was the genius behind the cash cow that is Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling was the lucky brat who gets to keep all of the money. As for me? I'm a college student with a part time job. If I was making millions from this, my fiancé wouldn't have to have 2 jobs to support us while I put myself through school. Lucky brat!

An Unending Search

Draco awoke in the early morning to find that him and Hermione were entangled together. He gently moved her to a spot on the bed and she curled up and continued to sleep. He stared at her for a long time. _My god she is so beautiful._ He stroked her hair back and tucked it behind her ear before he kissed her on the forehead. It felt like the most natural thing in the world. _I can't believe that I've fallen in love with Hermione Granger. The Bushy-haired-bookworm, know-it-all of Gryffindor, absolutely beautiful, caring, fiery, most wonderful woman in the world._ He glances at the clock on the bedside table. _Oh shite! I'm gonna be late for work!_ He raced to the closet trying to find appropriate attire for his job. Once he was dressed, he scribbled something down on a piece of parchment on his desk and ran to his fireplace to take the Floo Network to the Ministry of Magic, leaving the note by her on the pillow. He disappeared, only to miss the piece of parchment fall off of the bed and drift under it, barely hidden from sight.

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Hermione stirred and reached for her newfound love. Her hands met nothing. _Where did he go?_ She opened her eyes to the sight of her clothes in a neat pile by the door, and any other indication of their lovemaking invisible. _The house elf must have cleaned up._ She walked around the room, wondering where he went, all the while getting more and more upset that he abandoned her. _And at his place even!_ She got dressed and, heartbroken, left Malfoy Manor via Floo to her own little flat in London. _What the hell? Why would he just leave me there? Was I just another conquest of the great Draco Malfoy? How could I have been so stupid?!?!?_ Then she resolved to do something about it. She had a few plans that she had to put into action.

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**A Few Days Later**

Draco walked into his room as happy as a bug in a rug. He had just bought Hermione a present, and he knew she was going to love it. He examined the modest necklace that was made of white gold. The pendant was a circle with small diamonds encrusted within the gold. He counted all of 32 diamonds. It was truly breathtaking, but it couldn't hold a candle to his dearest Hermione. He picked up some Floo powder and threw it into the fireplace, shouting the address of her home. When he walked out of the flames, _What the hell am I doing in my house still?_ _Maybe she doesn't have a fireplace._ He removed the soot and dust with a spell and then walked to a place past the anti-apparition wards. He apparated to a street about three blocks away from her home. He walked at a brisk pace, a smile gracing his lips. Hermione was the first person to make Draco Malfoy give up that smug smirk. He got to two houses away when a shield stopped his access. _Bloody hell! What's she playing at?_ He tried some spells to break in, but he knew it would be useless. Hermione Granger wasn't the smartest witch of her age for nothing.

Finally giving up, Draco walked back to the apparition point and apparated to his house. Once he got there, he wrote her a letter. Sending it with his owl, he waited anxiously for the return of the bird. And hopefully with a letter addressed to him.

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_Round one, Hermione Granger!_ Hermione was watching Draco's meek struggle against her strongest wards and cheered to herself when he gave up after only a minute of spell casting. But something was nagging her in the back of her mind : _If he didn't try to contact me at all for __**four**__ days, what was he doing here in the first place?_ She shrugged that thought aside when an owl was pecking at the window. She let the bird in, fed it some owl treats and untied the parchment from its leg. She tapped the scroll with her wand and it created a seam. She unrolled it and read :

Hermione,

I hope Archimedes has found you. What have I done

to not be granted access to your home? I thought after

we slept together that you would be mine. That IS the

custom after all. Let me in and talk to you.

Draco

_Wow. doesn't he have a way with words._ Hermione's resolve to not talk to him intensified with his letter. _I am such an idiot to have trusted that fool! What have I done to deserve this?_ She sent the owl back without a reply. Once the bird was out of sight, she went to her fireplace and Floo called Ginny and Luna. She told them to bring their husbands. She needed a man's take on this situation as well as that of a woman's.

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Draco waited anxiously for Archimedes to appear. When his faithful owl appeared with nothing in reply to his letter, he was heartbroken. _I can't believe that the only woman I've ever wanted to be with, doesn't want to be with me. I can't believe that this is in my mind, but I can't think about anyone but her. What am I going to do?_

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Harry and Ginny, and Luna and Ron appeared within five minutes of each other. They had to be let through the wards because Hermione's fireplace was now set up to only be used from her place. You couldn't reach it from anywhere else. They sat down on her couches and all waited patiently for Hermione to talk. She entered the room from the kitchen and served them all some pumpkin juice.

"So, I bet you're all wondering why you're here?" They nodded, knowing that when she has a meeting like this, there's something important on her mind, and they should just let her speak. "Well, the night that Ginny and Luna took me out for some fun, I hooked up with someone."

Ginny and Luna weren't surprised by this revelation. They remembered the gorgeous blonde coming up to her and had put the pieces together when they couldn't find her after their display on the dance floor. The boys, though, weren't privy to this fact Harry choked, his expression like he had sour lemon juice go down the wrong pipe. Ron spluttered. "Bu-b-b-bu-mione? You? Hook up?"

She looked between the boys, frustration apparent upon her features. "Yes, Ronald. _**I**_ hooked up with someone. I decided that, for a night, I would let loose and have some fun. And it was with the most unlikely person. Draco Malfoy."

The reactions from this revelation were alot more sever this time. Ginny and Luna didn't recognize the gorgeous blonde as Draco, their expressions very much resembled Harry's previous one. Harry turned a delicate shade of green and Ron turned the colour of a radish. The boys both stood and started shouting objections, while the girls sat there contemplative. But it wasn't Hermione who stopped the protests, Ginny was the first to pipe up.

"Shut it! Just let her speak!" she yelled at them. Their resolve crumbled under her scrutiny. They sat down next to their wives and were silent once more.

"Thanks, Ginny. This is really difficult to explain for me. I decided that I would take a chance with him. He was good to me in every way. He treated me like I was a queen from the very start. But, when I woke up the next morning, he was gone. It made me feel like he didn't actually feel for me how I felt for him. I... I love him. But my heart feels like it has been ripped from my chest and squeezed by a vice. I need you guys to help me. I don't ever want to see him again."

Ginny and Luna rushed to her side and held her. The boys were flabbergasted. Hermione just proclaimed her love for the Slytherin Prince! The biggest prick of their year! This really needed sone serious thought on their part.

Not too long after Hermione's secret was revealed, they left her home via Floo. But, before they left, Ginny gave her a portkey in the shape of an actual key. And from the look of it, it was to a _very_ old house.. "If you need to find a safe and quiet place, this is a portkey to one of Harry's inherited houses. We call it Serenity Haven. It's under the Fidelius, so it's unplotable and Harry's the secret keeper. I hope you won't need it, but sometimes our magic is weakened when we're under stress. Just tap your wand on it to activate it and you'll be transported without delay. Just let us know when you're there. And we'll let the House Elves know you might be coming. Please come to us if you're in need of anything."

"Thanks Gin." And with a last hug, her best friends parted from her home.

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Draco was furious. He had been trying, for over a week now, to talk to Hermione. Unsuccessful as of late, he had all but given up on his attempts. On his last attempt he was _so_ close. He could feel that the barrier was weak around her home, so he decided that he would rest up until tomorrow and let his magic store up in order to put it to it's full use when he tried again. He paced around his mansion, waiting for his House Elves to fish making his dinner. The newest addition to Malfoy Manor sidled up to Draco cautiously. Little Pipsy was still very young and didn't know what to expect when her master became this way.

"M-m-m-m-master?"

"Yes, Pipsy, what is it?" Draco replied wearily.

"We's done makings dinner. We hopes it is to your likings."

"Thank you, Pipsy. I will take it on my bedroom balcony."

"Pipsy will take care of everything." She disappeared with a tiny 'pop'.

Draco went to the washroom and washed his hands. After the soap was rinsed away, he brought some water to his face and let it trickle down off of his face. He repeated this several times, trying to refresh his mind. Finally, he turned the silver taps encrusted with rubies and sapphires respectively, and patted his face dry with a towel. Resting his hands on either side of the basin, Draco stared hard at his reflection, willing it to give him answers. Sighin heavily, he left the bathroom and made his way to the terrace. His dinner was elegantly prepared and laid out, the House Elves showing their true talents. Taking a sip of his wine, he gazed out over the beautiful landscape that surrounded Malfoy Manor and realized just how lonely it was not to have Hermione there to share in the beauty.

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Hermione came home from work the next day. feeling as though she had been put through the ringer. First, she couldn't find all of her paperwork, then her boss had a meltdown because they were going to lose a contract because of her "incompetence". Luckily she found the missing papers in time to save the day.

She walked to her fridge and pulled our a Butterbeer. She uncorked it and slumped down on her couch. _This day couldn't get any worse_.

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Draco apparated a few streets near her house. He felt that the magic emanating from her house was at its weakest. He walked briskly so that he could finally talk to the love of his life.

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Hermione picked up the key / portkey to Serenity Haven. It was a small, jewel encrusted skeleton key. It was elegant yet, ornate. And very beautiful. It somewhat reminded her of the keys to the vaults at Gringotts. She placed it on a long, fairly thick chain and clasped it about her neck. Im her opinion, it looked good when doubled as an accessory.

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Draco arrived at the barrier that had kept him from his love for far too long in his mind. _Just one spell should do the trick today_. "Finite Incantatum!" The spell knocked through the barrier as if it were merely a piece of parchment. Now, on to the reason why he was here.

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Hermione felt the power of her wards fade as if they were nothing. The door burst open and there stood the man she vowed to no longer see.

"I want to talk to you Hermione," he said passionately.

"Good for you. Because I don't!"

And with a tap of her wand, Hermione Granger had disappeared once more from Draco Malfoy's grasp.

-x-o-x-o-x-o-x-o-

A/N: Well, that's all for now! I hope you enjoyed this installment. Thank you to all of you who review me to write more. I thoroughly enjoyed your opinions! There will be more to this story, so I'm sorry for the major cliffhanger at the end, but I promise I will finish soon. I'm just so busy getting ready for school while my ceiling in my room is getting fixed, so me and my fiancé are sleeping in the livingroom of our tiny place. I'm also doing may taxes, working like a madwoman, and trying to keep what's left of the usable portion of our place neat and tidy. Not an easy feat!

On a side note though, I have seen that some of the stories I've read are in serious need of repair. As soon as my story is finished, my word count will be above the mark where I can become a Beta, and anyone who would like my help need just ask. I'm a reliable Beta, and I love correcting papers. I also have excellent credentials from my old highschool English classes And I'm also a published author)! I'm not doing this just because of my OCD when it comes to reading another's work, it's also for the betterment of other authors, because not everyone is blessed with awesome verbal or writing skills, but they have amazing ideas. As soon as this is done, I would love to help those who want it.

As always, reviews are welcome! Anything that can provide a better reading experience for the general public is also welcome as well, as anything that I write is more for you than for myself. What is a writer if no one will read their work? Someone who just likes to talk. Peace!


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